Just a Drink
by x.cutiebii.x
Summary: Adrian and Rose's first ever encounter but what happens if she does choose to get to know him better? What will happen with Dimitri? Read and find out xD
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Rose's POV_

God I hope Mason's okay…I mean that was pretty ruthless even I know that, but that's how I am, totally ruthless. I could do that stunt and I don't think Mason follows that saying - if I can do it, you can it. I'll have to check up on him in the morning but right now I need some sleep. I was just walking onto the porch when I smelt a thick spicy but sweet scent. I was startled as a voice suddenly spoke to me from the shadows.

"Hey, little dhampir."

Then I realised that someone was standing in the corner of the porch. It was a guy – a Moroi – who was leaned up against the wall not far from the door, smoking. He brought the cigarette up to his mouth and took a long drag then dropped it on the floor. The scent, I realised, was Clove cigarettes.

I stopped and crossed my arms as I looked and took him in. He was a little shorter than Dimitri and wasn't as lanky as some Moroi guys ended up looking. He wore a long, charcoal coat – probably made from some insanely expensive cashmere-wool blend – which fit him extremely well, and the leather dress shoes he was wearing indicated more money still. He had brown hair that looked like it had been purposely styled to appear a little messy, and his eyes were either blue or green – I couldn't tell because there wasn't quite enough light for me to know for sure. His face was cute, I supposed, and I pegged him to be a couple years older than me. By the looks of him, I guessed that he had just come from a dinner party.

"Yeah?" I asked.

His eyes swept over my body and it didn't really surprise me that much. I was used to attention from Moroi guys but it usually wasn't this obvious. Plus, I wasn't usually bundled in winter clothing and had a black eye.

He shrugged. "Just saying hi, that's all."

I waited for him to say any more, but he didn't and just stuffed his hands into his coat's pockets. With a shrug of my own, I took a couple steps forward towards the door.

"You smell good you know," he suddenly said.

I stopped walking again and gave him a puzzled look, which only made his sly smile grow bigger.

"I…um, what?" This guy is seriously starting to freak me out slightly.

"You smell good," he repeated.

"Are you joking? I've been sweating all day. I'm disgusting." I wanted to just walk away and pretend that I have never even seen him, let alone have a conversation about sweating with him, but there was a something about him that planted my feet there. I didn't really find him as attractive as certain people; I was just suddenly interested in talking to him.

"Sweat isn't a bad thing," he said, leaning his head against the wall and looking upwards thoughtfully. "Some of the best things in life happen while sweating. Yeah, if you get too much of it and it gets old and stale, it turns pretty gross. But on a beautiful woman? Intoxicating. If you could smell things like a vampire does, you'd know what I'm talking about. Most people mess it all up and drown themselves in perfume. Perfume can be good…especially if you get one that goes with our chemistry. But you only need a hint. Mix about 20 percent of that with 80 percent of your own perspiration…mmm." He tilted his head to the side and looked at me. "Dead sexy."

I suddenly remembered Dimitri and his aftershave. Yeah. _That _had been dead sexy, but I certainly wasn't going to tell this guy about it.

"Well, thanks for the hygiene lesson," I said. "But I don't own any perfume, _and _I'm going to shower all this hot sweaty action off me. Sorry."

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered it to me. He moved only a step closer, but it was enough for me to smell something else on him. Alcohol. I shook my head at the cigarettes, and he tapped one out for himself.

"Bad habit," I commented, watching him light it.

"One of many," he replied. He inhaled deeply. "You here with St. Vlad's?"

"Yup."

"So you're going to be a guardian when you grow up."

"Obviously."

He exhaled smoke, and I watched it drift away into the night. Heightened vampire sense or not, it was a wonder he could smell anything around those cloves.

"How long until you grow up?" he asked. "I might need a guardian."

"I graduate in the spring. But I'm already spoken for Sorry."

Surprise flickered in his eyes. "Yeah? Who is he?"

"_She's _Vasilisa Dragomir."

"Ah." His face split into a huge grin. "I knew you were trouble as soon as I saw you. You're Janine Hathaway's daughter."

"I'm Rose Hathaway," I corrected. Not wanted to be defined by my mother.

"Nice to meet you, Rose Hathaway." He extended a gloved hand to me that I hesitantly took. "Adrian Ivashkov."

"And you think _I'm _trouble," I muttered. The Ivashkovs were another royal family, one of the wealthiest and most powerful. They were the kind of people who thought they could get anything they wanted and walked over those in their way. No wonder he was so arrogant.

He laughed. He had a nice laugh, rich and almost melodious. It made me think of warm caramel, dripping from a spoon. "Handy, huh? Each of our reputations precedes us."

I shook my head. "You don't know anything about me. And I only know of your _family_. I don't know anything about you."

"Want to?" he asked tauntingly.

"Sorry. I'm not into older guys." Technically not true since I liked Dimitri and he's 7 years older than me.

"I'm twenty-one. Not that much older."

"I have a boyfriend." It was a small lie. Mason certainly wasn't my boyfriend yet, but I hoped Adrian would leave me alone if he thought I was taken.

"Funny you didn't mention that right away," Adrian mused. "He didn't give you that black eye, did he?"

I felt myself blushing, even in the cold. I'd been hoping he wouldn't notice the black eye, which was stupid. With his vampire eyes, he'd probably noticed as soon as I stepped onto the porch.

"He wouldn't be alive if he did. I got it during…practice. I mean, I'm training to be a guardian. Our classes are always rough."

"That's pretty hot," he said. He dropped his second cigarette to the ground and put it out with his foot.

"Punching me in the eye?"

"Well, no. Of course not. I meant that the idea of getting of rough with you is hot. I'm a big fan of full-contact sports."

"I'm sure you are," I said dryly. He was arrogant and presumptuous, yet I still couldn't quite force myself to leave.

The sound of footsteps behind me made me turn. Mia came around the path and walked up the steps. When she saw us, she stopped suddenly.

"Hey, Mia." She glanced between the two of us.

"_Another _guy?" she asked. From her tone, you would have thought I had my own harem of men.

Adrian gave me a questioning, amused look. I gritted my teeth and decided not to dignify that with a response. I opted for uncharacteristic politeness.

"Mia, this is Adrian Ivashkov."

Adrian turned on the same charm he'd used on me. He shook her hand. "Always a pleasure to meet a friend of Rose's, especially a pretty one." He spoke like he and I had known each other since childhood.

"We aren't friends," I said. So much for politeness.

"Rose only hangs out with guys and psychopaths," said Mia. Her voice carried the usual scorn she harboured for me, but there was a look on her face that showed Adrian had clearly caught her interest.

"Well," he said cheerfully, "since I'm both a psychopath and a guy, that would explain why we're such good friends."

"You and I aren't friends either," I told him.

He laughed. "Always playing hard to get, huh?"

"She's not that hard to get," said Mia, clearly upset that Adrian was paying more attention to me. "Just ask half the guys at our school."

"Yeah," I retorted, "and you can ask the other half about Mia. If you can do a favour for her, she'll do _lots _of favours for you." When she'd declared war on Lissa and me, Mia had managed to get a couple of guys to tell everyone at school that I'd done some pretty awful things with them. The ironic thing was that she'd gotten them to lie for her by sleeping with them herself.

A flicker of embarrassment passed over her face, but she held her ground.

"Well," she said, "at least I don't do them for free."

Adrian made some cat noises.

"Are you done?" I asked. "It's past you bedtime, and the grown-ups would like to talk now." Mia's youthful looks were a sore point with her, one I frequently enjoyed exploiting.

"Sure," she said crisply. Her cheeks turned pink, intensifying her porcelain-doll appearance. "I have better things to do anyway." She turned toward the door, then paused with her hand resting on it. She glanced toward Adrian. "Her mom gave her that black eye, you know."

With that, she went inside. The fancy glass doors swung shut behind her.

Adrian and I stood there in silence. Finally, he took out the cigarettes again and lit another. "Your mom?"

"Shut up."

"You're one of those people who either has soul mates or mortal enemies, aren't you? No in-between. You and Vasilisa are probably like sisters, huh?"

"I guess."

"How is she?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He shrugged, and if I didn't know better, I'd have said he was overdoing casualness. "I don't know. I mean, I know you guys ran away… and there was that stuff with her family and Victor Dashkov…"

I stiffened at the reference to Victor. "So?"

"Dunno. Just figured it might be a lot for her to, you know, handle."

I studied him carefully, wondering what he was getting at. There had been a brief leak about Lissa's fragile mental health, but it had been well contained. Most people had forgotten about it or assumed it was a lie.

"I've got to go." I decided avoidance was the best tactic just now

"Hey I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything…"

"It's fine, I'm just going to g-" I said, about to leave but he grabbed my arm and interrupted me,

"Don't go. Look why don't we pretend that I didn't say that and go and join me for a drink?"

I looked at his hand that was still on my arm; he quickly removed it as I glared at it. That sense to be near him was still there and Adrian was, I have to admit, almost as hot as Dimitri. That sense won over so I said

"Sure I guess you could try and make it up to me, what could a few drinks do?"

**Hey guys can you please rate and review this story. It's my first and I really want to know how I did. If you have any ideas on what you want to happen next just write it when you review. Thanks xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys for the comments you guys have giving me. They've really given me some encouragement =D So heres the second chapter hope you like it just as much as the first. It's sort of long but I thought you would want Adrian's point of view but you find out what happens between Rose and Adrian at the end of the chapter.**

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**Chapter 2**

_Adrian's POV_

Another dinner party over, time for a cigarette. I decided to go outside to the porch of the lodge since I wasn't really allowed to smoke inside. So I grabbed my coat said goodbye to the hosts and my friends there and headed outside. I got my Clove cigarettes out of my coat pocket, lit the first one and inhaled. Ah so much better, I love these things, as well as alcohol, which I consumed a lot of tonight. I was just looking up and the slopes and smoking in the shadows of the porch when I noticed a beautiful dhampir coming towards the porch. Wow, she really was a beauty even in winter clothes, I also noted that she had a black eye. She had long, wavy, dark brown hair, a great toned body and she smelt great. She sort of looked familiar; I would love to get to know her and maybe some other things as well.

"Hey, little dhampir." I said making myself known.

She seemed to realise that I was standing in the corner of the porch. I brought up my cigarette to my mouth and took a long drag hoping she would find it incredibly sexy. I dropped it on the floor since it was finished and stepped on it to put it out.

She stopped and crossed her arms as she looked at me, and she seemed like she was taking me in.

"Yeah?" she asked. God her voice was sexy as well, this girl was seriously catching my eye.

My eyes swept over her body and by the look on her face it seemed like she was used to it. Okay so I was making it quite obvious but how else was I going to tell her I might possibly be interested in her. I had not idea what to say to her next so I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "just saying hi, that's all."

She just stood there as I stuffed my hands into my coat pockets. With a shrug of her own she walked towards the door. I wanted to talk to her more so I just said the first thing that came into my mind, which just happened to be about her intoxicating scent.

"You smell good you know."

She stopped walking and gave me a puzzled look. Well at least she's staying around to talk to me. That made my smile on my face grow even bigger.

"I…um, what?" She seemed slightly hesitant and I think she might think I'm a bit weird. Since I started this conversation about her scent I might as well go through with it, 'cause she did really smell good.

"You smell good," I repeated.

"Are you joking? I've been sweating all day. I'm disgusting." She stated. Totally wrong, she was just the opposite of disgusting.

"Sweat isn't a bad thing," I said, leaning my head against the wall and looking upwards thoughtfully. "Some of the best things in life happen while sweating. Yeah, if you get too much of it and it gets old and stale, it turns pretty gross. But on a beautiful woman? Intoxicating. If you could smell things like a vampire does, you'd know what I'm talking about. Most people mess it all up and drown themselves in perfume. Perfume can be good…especially if you get one that goes with our chemistry. But you only need a hint. Mix about 20 percent of that with 80 percent of your own perspiration…mmm." I tilted my head to the side and looked at her. "Dead sexy." That was an understatement for her. I wonder what perfume she does have; maybe I can get her some as a gift for her. What I want, I get. She seemed to be in thought then said something I didn't really expect.

"Well, thanks for the hygiene lesson," she said. "But I don't own any perfume, _and _I'm going to shower all this hot sweaty action off me. Sorry." She didn't own _any _perfume? That was surprising, every girl has to have at least one bottle of perfume. Maybe she will be getting that gift from me.

I decided to have another cigarette so I and pulled out the pack and offered it to her. I moved only a step closer but she shook her head at the cigarettes, so I tapped one out for myself.

"Bad habit," she commented, watching me light it. She wouldn't be the first person to tell me that. Everyone had told me so many times about my many bad habits but had given up telling me even more since I never listened to them.

"One of many," I replied. I inhaled deeply loving it. Since she looked to be about a senior in school I guessed she was with St. Vladimir's since that was the major school that was here at the lodge after the attack of the Badicas. If you hadn't heard of that attack then everyone would think something was wrong with your brain. It was the biggest story so far in the Moroi world.

"You here with St. Vlad's?"

"Yup."

"So you're going to be a guardian when you grow up."

"Obviously."

I exhaled smoke, and she watched it drift away into the night.

"How long until you grow up?" he asked. "I might need a guardian." I was so going to request her as my guardian when she graduates. We would have so much fun, if you know what I mean.

"I graduate in the spring. But I'm already spoken for Sorry." What! That was a surprise. Damn, who's the bastard that that has this beauty as their guardian after her graduation? He was one lucky guy that was all I had to say. I just had to find out who the guy was,

"Yeah? Who is he?"

"_She's _Vasilisa Dragomir."

"Ah." Oh. My face split into a huge grin. "I knew you were trouble as soon as I saw you. You're Janine Hathaway's daughter." Another fact in the world of vampires, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir was the last of the Dragomir royal family after the rest of her family died in the car accident she was in. Her guardian was said to be Rose Hathaway after she graduated. Janine Hathaway is her mother and is one of the best guardians out there.

"I'm Rose Hathaway," she corrected. I see she did not want to be defined by her mother, my mistake. Since we're making introductions, it's time for her to know who I am.

"Nice to meet you, Rose Hathaway." I extended a gloved hand to her that she hesitantly took. "Adrian Ivashkov." I would be surprised if she didn't know me, because everyone knew me. For the right reasons, I'm not so sure, but I had a reputation that everybody knew of.

"And you think _I'm _trouble," she muttered.

I laughed at that. Seems she has heard of my reputation or at least my family's. We were the most powerful and wealthy, of course we had a reputation. "Handy, huh? Each of our reputations precedes us."

She shook her head. "You don't know anything about me. And I only know of your _family_. I don't know anything about you." Guess it was my family she heard of then.

"Want to?" I asked tauntingly. Boy would I love to get to know her more, in more ways than one.

"Sorry. I'm not into older guys." She guessed me as being older than her and she was right I was. I thought girl's liked older guys; I actually thought she was lying.

"I'm twenty-one. Not that much older." I just stated that for her because she might just mean guys that are like at least 5 years older than her. I don't really think that 3 years is much a gap.

"I have a boyfriend." Hmm she's taken is she? I also think that is a slight lie as the look on her face changes but goes back to normal quickly.

"Funny you didn't mention that right away," I mused. "He didn't give you that black eye, did he?" Oops, that slipped out. Mentioning bad points isn't really the way to win the way to a woman's heart, and I definitely wanted to get to this woman's heart.

She was blushing, even in the cold. I could tell by my vampire senses even in the dark.

"He wouldn't be alive if he did. I got it during…practice. I mean, I'm training to be a guardian. Our classes are always rough." Rough, ooo sounds exciting.

"That's pretty hot," I said. I dropped my second cigarette to the ground and put it out with my foot.

"Punching me in the eye?" She looked bemused.

"Well, no. Of course not. I meant that the idea of getting of rough with you is hot. I'm a big fan of full-contact sports." Especially _certain _sports, ones which I wanted to play with her.

"I'm sure you are," I said dryly. He was arrogant and presumptuous, yet I still couldn't quite force myself to leave.

The sound of footsteps behind her made her turn. A blonde Moroi girl came around the path and walked up the steps. When she saw us, she stopped suddenly.

"Hey, Mia." The girl glanced between the two of us.

"_Another _guy?" she asked. From her tone, it sounded like Rose had a whole line of men that she went through regularly.

I gave her a questioning, amused look. She gritted her teeth and decided not to response to her little comment.

"Mia, this is Adrian Ivashkov."

I turned on the same charm I'd used on Rose. I do that with every girl, it's like a reflex. I shook her hand. "Always a pleasure to meet a friend of Rose's, especially a pretty one."

"We aren't friends," she said. Seems like there is some lost love between them two. I might ask Rose about that later.

"Rose only hangs out with guys and psychopaths," said Mia. I noticed there was a look on her face that showed I had clearly caught her interest. No surprise to me, which girl _didn't want me?_

"Well," I said cheerfully, "since I'm both a psychopath and a guy, that would explain why we're such good friends."

"You and I aren't friends either," She told me

I laughed. "Always playing hard to get, huh?" She was _seriously_ playing hard to get, she was _definitely _not like other girls I had been with.

"She's not that hard to get," said Mia, she was clearly upset that I was paying more attention to Rose. "Just ask half the guys at our school." My thought about her and Mia being enemies seemed to be true by how Mia was responding. The guys, well, she was sexy and beautiful, she could get guys easily but I doubt it's as bad as Mia is making it.

"Yeah," she retorted, "and you can ask the other half about Mia. If you can do a favour for her, she'll do _lots _of favours for you." I could tell that the made part of this battle was about who slept with how many guys.

A flicker of embarrassment passed over Mia's face, but she held her ground.

"Well," she said, "at least I don't do them for free."

I made some cat noises. This fight was seriously heating up. Rose decided she was not up for this so just ended it.

"Are you done?" Rose asked. "It's past you bedtime, and the grown-ups would like to talk now." Mia did have youthful looks, which acted as a sore point with her, especially with Rose since she was using them to her advantage.

"Sure," she said crisply. Her cheeks turned pink, intensifying her porcelain-doll appearance. "I have better things to do anyway." She turned toward the door, then paused with her hand resting on it. She glanced toward me. "Her mom gave her that black eye, you know."

With that, she went inside. The fancy glass doors swung shut behind her. Whoa! _Her mom_? Why would her mom give her a black eye? That was too much to take in as we just stood there in silence. Finally, I took out the cigarettes again and lit another. "Your mom?" I couldn't resist the urge to ask about it.

"Shut up."

"You're one of those people who either has soul mates or mortal enemies, aren't you? No in-between. You and Vasilisa are probably like sisters, huh?"

"I guess."

"How is she?" I had heard about Vasilisa's fragile state but not many others had. It was kept quite a close secret between the people who did know. Some thought it was a lie, I didn't really have an opinion on it but I decided to ask anyway.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

I shrugged overdoing the casualness. "I don't know. I mean, I know you guys ran away… and there was that stuff with her family and Victor Dashkov…"

She stiffened at the reference to Victor. "So?"

"Dunno. Just figured it might be a lot for her to, you know, handle."

She studied me carefully, wondering what I was getting at. I wasn't getting at anything really, just wanted a conversation with her.

"I've got to go." she said suddenly.

"Hey I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything…" Crap, that was a stupid thing to bring up the Victor Dashkov thing. I have to do something to make her stay longer.

"It's fine, I'm just going to g-" she said, about to leave but I grabbed her arm and interrupted her,

"Don't go. Look why don't we pretend that I didn't say that and go and join me for a drink?"

She looked at my hand that was still on her arm; I quickly removed it as she glared at it. She took her time but she finally said,

"Sure I guess you could try and make it up to me, what could a few drinks do?"

I led her to the bar at the court and ordered Russian Vodka for myself, it was my favourite drink of all time. She ordered herself a cosmopolitan. We sat right down at the bar and I picked the point of Mia to talk about since the Victor Dashkov thing was a bit touchy.

"So what's up with you and that Mia girl? Some lost love between you two huh?" I smirked a bit at this because it was quite funny seeing two girls bitching about each other right upfront and close.

She sighed and took a sip of her drink. "She's just a bitch at our school and has a grudge against me and Lissa. She declared war on us two and managed to get some guys to tell everyone at school that I'd slept with them. The thing was she slept with them herself to lie for her."

St. Vlad's had drama, sounds exciting. "So you didn't sleep with any of them?"

"Of course not! I'm not a bloodwhore!" She gave me a death glare that could quite literally kill.

"Ok, ok, I didn't think you were," I took my first shot glass of the Vodka and felt the burning sensation at the back of my throat. Lovely. "Why don't we have a little drinking contest to lose the tension okay?"

She didn't speak for a bit, thinking about it but agreed. I asked the bartender to get us some tequila and to keep it coming. We talked about random stuff and it felt good to be with her. An hour later we were both totally drunk, she was a lot drunker than me 'cause I drink regularly so I'm used to it. I decided enough was enough so it was time to make a move.

"Come on Rose let's go back to my place and carry on with our fun there," I helped her off her seat and put an arm around her waist so that she wouldn't fall over. We walked back to my room with a few stumbles along the way, but we eventually got there. I closed the door behind me and walked her over to the couch where she leaned on the back of it to keep her steady. I saw her taking my room in, since it was different to her own. I took off my coat then walked over wrapped my arms around her waist pulling her closer then leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips.

She responded slowly at first, kissing back just as softly as I was but then she ran her hands up my chest and around my neck pulling me even closer. Her lips were amazingly soft and sweet and I couldn't get enough of them. She was making the kiss deeper and I ran my tongue along her bottom lip asking for entrance to her mouth. She opened it for me and I entered twisting my tongue with hers. She let out a small moan and that drove me crazy. I moved my hands from her waist to her winter coat unzipping it and dropping it to the floor. My hands went back to waist running them under her jumper and feeling her soft skin and toned body. Her own hands were now tangled in my hair and she tugged slightly causing me to moan as well. Her jumper came off and I also tossed that to the floor. I noticed she was wearing a black bra, which only increased her sexiness. She then moved her own hands under my shirt and along my abs then started to unbutton it. I helped her out by undoing the last of the buttons and taking my shirt off. We pulled away for a bit catching our breaths and taking each other in. Thank god this room was heated otherwise we'd be freezing by now. I moved in to kiss her neck and along her jaw and she giggled lightly. I moved my lips back up to hers and she kissed me back with just as much intensity.

I led her over to my king sized bed and we both fell down on it. We took our shoes off with our feet and I was hovering over her kissing her. One of my hands slid from her side, along her breast to land on her hip and she let out another moan. I moved my hands to her trousers unbuttoning them and letting them slide to the floor. She was on top of me now; my hands were tangled in her silky dark brown hair. She started to unbutton my pants and I tossed them on the floor.

She was good at this; she must have done it before. "You're good at this you know, have you done it before?" I mumbled into her neck.

She laughed a little and continued to kiss me "No, but I've come close and you're good at this too," she said between kisses.

What? She hadn't done this before and if I took her now it would be her first time. Adrian stop man, you can't take the virginity of a girl when she's drunk and she's never done it before. She also seemed like the type of girl to kill somebody literally if they did something to her. I remembered she had a boyfriend as well, as said by her. Although I didn't really believe that she did have one, I respected her in the short time I'd gotten to know her. Her boyfriend wouldn't be too happy either if he found out and if he even existed at all.

I pulled back and looked at the beauty that was under me. "Little Dhampir as much as I love what we're doing right now I think we should stop. I mean it's your first time and I wouldn't want you to lose it when you're drunk." I knew when to stop and when to continue when it came to girls, and this was one where you stopped.

She just looked at me with a confused look "But I want this," she leaned up to where my neck was and started to kiss it teasingly.

Crap. "Rose, maybe another time and what would your boyfriend say?" I thought I would remind her so she would snap out of it and stop.

That did the trick. She stopped and lay back down on the pillows thinking about it. I took the time to roll off her and lay down beside her. She closed her eyes and stayed silent for a few minutes. I shook her slightly to see if she was okay, but she didn't wake up. I think she passed out and was just sleeping now on my bed half-naked. What to do now?

I decided to just let her sleep there and see her in the morning. I was tired so I pulled the covers over us and sleep came over me.

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**Isn't Adrian good for not taking advantage of Rose like that? R&R xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Special thanks to:**

** SKDanielle16 **and** ruthless 527** for the encouragement and comments

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**Chapter 3**

_Rose's POV_

Ugh. I had a massive headache and I felt like I couldn't even get up. What the hell had happened last night? I felt down my body and touched my bare skin and well as the edge of my bra. I looked down and realised I was in my underwear. What. The. Hell. I also noticed there was someone next to me with a bare chest and just boxers on. It was that guy I saw on the porch last night (night for vampires). What was his name again..? Adrian Ivashkov that's right. I shook him to wake him up to find out what in the world happened last night. I better not have had sex with this guy. He was the last person on Earth who I would want to lose my virginity to. Just thinking about it made me extremely mad and he better be good at defending because I was going to kill him, because I had a feeling what we did last night was not good.

His eyes fluttered open and he looked at me ad smiled. "Good morning little dhampir, how was your night?" He didn't seem to realise that I was not happy and why would I even have had a good night. I've got a flipping hangover with all the alcohol we drank last night. That was all I happened to remember to, going to the bar with him and drinking loads of tequila.

"You're really asking that question? What do you fucking think? I've got a splitting headache and I have no idea why the heck I am half-naked and in bed with you, who just so happens to be half-naked as well." I started to raise my voice and it was making my headache even worse and I was still lying down not being able to get up.

He got up and leaned down on his elbow to look at me. Seemed like he was doing better than me. "Well… we sort of got really drunk last night and then we came to my room. We were going to have sex but then you told me it was your first time so I stopped you and then you passed out on my bed."

That explained the banging headache and why we were both half-naked. But I was sort of shocked that I even did that and I had ended up in bed with this guy of all people. "What the fuck?" I got up quickly and tried to get out of bed. Damn head rush and headaches don't really work. I sort of stumbled and fell down on the bed again.

"Are you okay?" Adrian asked concerned.

"Ugh, this headache is killing me, do you have anything to help 'cause I really need to go." I needed to ask if I was going to make it out of this room. He got up and boy did that guy have a body. No wonder he attracted loads of girls. I'm sort of glad that he didn't take advantage of me last night and stopped before anything happened. I was still pissed though that it had even gotten that far.

He came back with a drink with some fruit in it. "Here this might help you."

"What is it?" I didn't really feel like drinking something I didn't know.

"It's my hangover drink," he stated.

"Oh." I took a sip of it and it didn't taste bad. Really fruity but I think there was some alcohol in it or maybe it was just the left over from last night that was still in my mouth. "What's in this? It tastes like there's alcohol in it."

He laughed lightly, "There is a bit, just the stuff they put into a Bloody Mary and some fruit."

"You gave me a drink with more alcohol in it when I have a hangover, what the hell is wrong with you!" I think he was trying to get me drunk again so he could try sleeping with me and go through with it this time.

"It's meant to help you and so does the fruit," he just looked at me.

I supposed I could trust him and drank the rest of the drink and handed the glass back to him. I was able to get up properly now and quickly got dressed. He had lighted a cigarette and was smoking it while watching me dress. I started to head to the door and he grabbed my arm yet again.

"Do you really have to go little dhampir?" He sounded only mildly disappointed. Mostly he seemed as cocky and amused as he did yesterday. That sense was there again and but I resisted it this time.

"It's early, I'm tired and your cigarettes are making my headache even worse," I growled.

"I suppose that's fair." He drew in on the cigarette and let out the smoke. "Some women think they make me look sexy."

"I think you smoke them so you have something to do while thinking up your next witty line."

He choked on the smoke, caught between inhaling and laughing. "Rose Hathaway, I can't wait to see you again. If you're this charming while tired and annoyed _and_this gorgeous while bruised and in ski clothes, you must be devastating at your peak."

"If by 'devastating' you mean that you should fear for your life, then yeah. You're right." I jerked open the door. "Goodbye, Adrian."

"I'll see you soon."

"Not likely. I told you, I'm not into older guys."

I walked out of his room towards mine. As the door closed, I just barely heard him call behind me, "Sure, your aren't."

_Mason's POV_

So following Rose doing that stunt was not my best idea ever. At least I didn't need anything on my leg but I was going to be limping for a while. I was going to see Rose, Lissa and Christian to see what they were up to today. On the way I bumped into Mia. Didn't really like her after all those rumours she spread about Rose.

She stopped me and said, "Hey Mason, I just thought that you would want to know that Rose was getting drunk with Adrian Ivashkov yesterday."

That struck me. Why would Rose be hanging out with Adrian Ivashkov as well as getting drunk with him, "How would you know?" I didn't trust her, no harm in asking.

"I saw them of course. They were on the porch together talking I was there for a while but I guess Rose wanted him all for herself since she decided to send me away. With his and her reputation you could only guess what happened next," she said with a smirk on her face then walked away.

Okay I am so talking to Rose about this. Even with her own reputation, she should not be hanging out with the likes of _him. _Adrian Ivashkov was one of the most well known womanizers in the vampire world and I did not want Rose anywhere near him.

I found out where they all were and went to talk to Rose about a certain womanizer.

_Rose's POV_

Lissa was gone by the time I got to our room so I had the bathroom to myself. I loved the bathroom; it was enormous. I decided to take a shower hoping it would help my head. That drink Adrian gave me was actually sort of working. Who knew that more alcohol would help you with a hangover? The shower was scalding hot and it had three different nozzles and that woke me up properly and cleared my head. Much better. As I stood in front of the full-length mirror and combed my hair, I saw with some disappointment that the bruise around my eye was still there. It was significantly lighter, however, and had turned yellowish. Some concealer and powder almost entirely covered it up.

I headed downstairs in search of food. The dining room was just shutting down breakfast, but one of the waitresses gave me a couple of peach marzipan scones to go. Munching on one as I walked, I expanded my senses to get a feel for where Lissa was. After a couple of moments, I sense her on the other side of the lodge, away from the student rooms. I followed the trail until I arrived at a room on the third floor. I knocked.

Christian opened the door. "Sleeping Beauty arrives. Welcome."

He ushered me inside. Lissa sat cross-legged on the room's bed and smiled when she saw me. The room was as sumptuous as mine, but most of the furniture had been shoved aside to make space, and in that open area, Tasha stood.

"Good morning," she said.

"Hey," I said. So much for avoiding her. I was so pissed at her trying to take Dimitri away from me and to be her guardian. I just wanted to scream and knock her right out and leave her with a black eye like mine, which my mother had given to me.

Lissa patted a spot beside her. "You've got to see this."

"What's going on?" I sat down on the bed and finished the last of the scone.

"Bad things," she said mischievously. "You'll approve."

Christian walked over to the empty space and faced Tasha. They regarded each other, forgetting about Lissa and me. I'd apparently interrupted something.

"So why can't I just stick with the consuming spell?" asked Christian.

"Because it uses a lot of energy," she told him. Even with jeans and a ponytail – _and _the scar – she managed to look ridiculously cute. "Plus, it'll most likely kill your opponent."

He scoffed. "Why wouldn't I want to kill a Strigoi?"

"You might not always be fighting one. Or maybe you need information from them. Regardless, you should be prepared either way. They were practicing offensive magic, I realised. Excitement and interest replaced the sullenness I'd acquired upon seeing Tasha. Lissa hadn't been kidding about them doing "bad things." I'd always suspected they were practicing offensive magic, but…wow. Thinking about it and seeing it were two very different things. Using magic as a weapon was forbidden. A punishable offense. A student experimenting with it might be forgiven and simply disciplined, but for an adult to actively be teaching a minor…yeah. That could get Tasha in _major_ trouble. Or half a second, I toyed with the idea of turning her in. Immediately, I dismissed the notion. I might hate her for making moves on Dimitri, but part of me sort of believed in what she and Christian were doing. Plus, it was just cool.

"A distracting spell is almost as useful," she continued.

Her ice blue eyes took on the intense focus I often saw Moroi get while using magic. Her wrist flicked forward, and a streak of fire snaked past Christian's face. It didn't touch him, but from the way he flinched, I suspected it had been close enough for him to feel the heat.

"Try it," she told him.

Christian hesitated or a small moment and then made the same hand motion she had. Fire streaked out, but it had none of the finely tuned control hers had had. He also didn't have her aim. I went straight for her face, but before it could touch her, it parted and split around her, almost like it had hit an invisible shield. She'd deflected it with her own magic.

"Not bad – aside from the fact you would have burned my face off."

Even I wouldn't want her face burned off. But her hair… ah, yes. We'd see how pretty she was without that raven-black mane.

She and Christian practiced a while longer. He improved as time went by, though he clearly had a ways to go before he had Tasha's skill. MY interest grew and grew as they went on, and I found myself pondering all he possibilities this kind of magic could offer. They wrapped up their lesson when Tasha said she had to go. Christian sighed; clear frustrated that he hadn't been able to master the spell in an hour. His competitive was almost as strong as mine.

"I still think it'd be easier to just burn them entirely," he argued.

Tasha smiled as she brushed her hair into a tighter ponytail. Yeah. She could _definitely _do without that hair, particularly since I knew how much Dimitri liked long hair.

"Easier because it involves less focus. It's sloppy. Your magic'll be stronger in the long run if you can learn this. And, like I said, it has its uses."

I didn't want to agree with her, but I couldn't help it. "It would be really useful if you were fighting with a guardian," I said excitedly. "Especially if completely burning a Strigoi takes so much energy. This way, you use just a quick burst of your strength to distract the Strigoi. And it _will _distract one since they hate fire so much. Then that's all the time a guardian would need to stake them. You could take down a whole bunch of Strigoi that way."

Tasha grinned at me. Some Moroi – like Lissa and Adrian – without showing their teeth. Tasha always showed hers. Including the fangs.

"Exactly. You and I'll have to go Strigoi hunting someday," she teased.

"I don't think so," I replied.

The words in and of themselves weren't that bad, but the tone I used to deliver them certainly was. Cold. Unfriendly. Tasha looked momentarily surprised at my abrupt change in attitude but shrugged it off. Shock from Lissa travelled to me through the bond.

Tasha didn't seem bothered, however. She chatted with us a bit longer and made plans to see Christian for dinner. Lissa gave me a sharp look as she Christian, and I walked down the elaborate spiral staircase leading back down to the lobby.

"What was _that _about?" she asked.

"What was what about?" I asked innocently.

"Rose," she said meaningfully. It as hard to play dumb when your friend knew you cold read her mind. I knew exactly what she was talking about. "You being a bitch to Tasha."

"I wasn't that much of a bitch."

"You were rude," she exclaimed, stepping out of the way of a bunch of Moroi children who came tearing through the lobby. They were bundled up in parkas, and a weary-looking Moroi ski instructor followed them.

I put my hand on my hips. "Look, I'm just grumpy, okay? Didn't get much sleep. Besides, I'm not like you. I don't have to be polite all the time."

As happened so often lately, I couldn't believe what I'd just said. Lissa stared at me, more astonished than hurt. Christian glowered, on the verge of snapping back at me, when Mason mercifully approached us. He hadn't needed a cast or anything, but he had a slight limp in his walk.

"Hey there, Hop-Along," I said, sliding my hand into his

Christian put his anger for me on hold and turned to Mason. "Is it true your suicidal moves finally caught up with you?"

Mason's eyes were on me. "Is it true you were hanging out with Adrian Ivashkov?"

"I – what?" Shit. How he find out.

"I heard you guys got drunk last night."

"You did?" asked Lissa, startled.

I looked between both their faces. I could _not _tell them what happened yesterday with Adrian. "No, of course not! I barely know him."

"But you _do _know him," pushed Mason.

"Barely." Maybe a bit more than that but I wasn't going to tell them.

"He's goo a bad reputation," warned Lissa. Ah so he got quite the reputation, guess I'm finding out more about him than I thought I would.

"Yeah," said Christian. "He goes through a lot of girls."

I couldn't believe this. "Will you guys lay off? I talked to him for like, five minutes! And that's only because he was blocking my way inside. Where are you getting all this?" Immediately, I answered my own question. "Mia."

Mason nodded and had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Since when do you talk to her?" I asked.

"I just ran into her, that's all," he told me.

"And you believed her? You know she lies half the time."

"Yeah, nut there's usually some truth in the lies. And you I did _talk to him."_

"Yes_. Talk._ That's it."

I really had been trying to give some serious thought about dating Mason, so I didn't appreciate him not believing me. He had actually helped me unravel Mia's lies earlier in the school year, so I as surprised he'd be so paranoid about them now. Maybe f his feelings really had grown for me, he was more susceptible to jealousy.

Surprisingly, it was Christian who came to the rescue and changed the subject. "I suppose there's no skiing today, huh?" He pointed to Mason's ankle, immediately triggering an indignant response.

"What, you think this is going to slow me down?" asked Mason.

His anger diminished, replaced by that burning need to prove himself – the need he and I both shared. Lissa and Christian looked at him like he was crazy, but I knew nothing we said would stop him.

"You guys want to come with us? I asked Lissa and Christian.

Lissa shook her head. "We can't. We have to go to this luncheon being hosted by the Contas."

Christian groaned. "Well, _you _have to go." Christian didn't really like royal get-togethers since he wasn't really considered a royal since his parents had turned Strigoi willingly.

She elbowed him. "So do you. The invitation said I get to bring a guest. Besides, this is just a warm-p for the _big _one."

"Which one is that?" asked Mason.

"Priscilla Voda's huge dinner," sighed Christian. Seeing him look so pained made me smile. "The queen's best friend. All the snobbiest royals will be there, _and _I'll have to wear a suit."

Mason flashed me a grin. His earlier antagonism was gone. "Skiing's sounding better and better, huh? Less of a dress code."

We left the Moroi behind and went outside. Mason couldn't compete with me in the same way he had yesterday; his movements were slow and awkward. Still, he did remarkably well when one considered everything. The injury wasn't as bad as we'd feared, but he had the prudence to stick to extremely easy runs.

The full moon hung in the blankness, a glowing sphere of silvery white. The electric lights overpowered most of its illumination on the ground, but here and there in the shadows, the moon just barely managed to cast its glow. I wished it were bright enough to reveal the surrounding mountain range, but those peaks stayed shrouded in darkness. I'd forgotten to look at them when it was light out earlier.

The runs were super simple for me, but I stayed with Mason and only occasionally teased him about how his remedial skiing was putting me to sleep. Boring runs or not, it was just nice to be outside with my friends, and the activity stirred my blood enough to warm me against the chill air. The light posts lit up the snow, turning it into a vast sea of white, the flakes' crystals sparkling faintly. And if I managed to turn away and block the light from my field of vision I could look up and see the stars spilling over the sky. They stood out stark and crystalline in the clear, freezing air. We stayed out for most of the day again, but this time, I called it quits early, pretending to be tired so Mason could get a break. He might manage easy skiing with his tender ankle, but I could tell it was starting to hurt him.

Mason and I headed back toward the lodge walking very close to each other, laughing about something we'd seen earlier. Suddenly, I saw a streak of white in my peripheral vision, and a snowball smashed into Mason's face. I immediately went on the defensive, jerking backward and peering around. Whoops and cries sounded from an area of the resort grounds that held storage sheds and interspersed with looming pines.

"Too slow, Ashford," someone called. "Doesn't pay to be in love."

More laughs. Mason's best friend Eddie Castile, and a few other novices from school materialised from behind a cluster of trees. Beyond them, I heard more shouts.

"We'll still take you in, though, if you want to be on our team," said Eddie. "Even if you do dodge like a girl."

"Team?" I asked excitedly.

Back at the Academy, throwing snowballs was strictly prohibited. School official were inexplicably afraid that we'd throw snowballs packed with glass shard or razor blades, though I had no clue how they thought we'd get hold of that kind of stuff in the first place.

Not that a snowball fight was _that _rebellious, but after all the stress I'd been through recently, throwing objects at other people suddenly sounded like the best idea I'd heard in a while. Mason and I dashed off with the others, the prospect of forbidden fighting giving him new energy and causing him to forget the pain in his ankle. We set to the fight with a die-hard zeal.

The fight soon became a matter of nailing as many people as possible while dodging attacks from others. I was exceptional at both and furthered the immaturity by catcalling and shouting silly insults at my victims.

By the time someone noticed what we were doing and yelled at us, we were all laughing and covered with snow. Mason and I once again started back for the lodge, and our mood was so high, I knew the Adrian thing was long forgotten.

Indeed, Mason looked at me just before we went inside. "Sorry I, uh, jumped all over you about Adrian earlier."

I squeezed his hand. "It's okay. I know Mia can tell some pretty convincing stories." So she didn't make this story up all of it did really happen well except the part where I slept with Adrian. Technically I almost had sex with Adrian and I did sleep with him, but _just _sleeping nothing more. I decided not to tell Mason any of this because it would ruin our happy mood.

"Yeah… but even if you were with him… it's not like I have any right…"

I stared at him, surprised to see his usual brash countenance turn shy. "Don't you?" I asked.

A smile turned up his lips. "Do I?"

Smiling back, I stepped forward and kissed him. His lips felt amazingly warm in the freezing air. It wasn't like the earth-shattering kiss I'd had with Dimitri before the trip, and definitely not the drunk kiss I had with Adrian, but it was sweet and nice – a friendly sort of kiss that _maybe_ could turn into more. At least, that was how I saw it. From the look on Mason's face, it appeared his whole world had been rocked.

"Wow," he said, eyes wide. The moonlight made his eyes look silvery blue.

"You see?" I said. "Nothing to worry about. Not Adrian, not anybody."

We kissed again – a bit longer this time – before finally dragging ourselves apart. Mason was clearly in a better mood, as well as he should have been, and I dropped into bed with a smile on my face. I wasn't technically sure if Mason and I were a couple now, but we were very close to it.

But when I slept, I dreamed about Adrian Ivashkov.

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**Ooo whats going to happen in the dream? Suggestions welcome and please R&R xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys just want to say thanks for all the tips for the Adrian dream chapter. I know its seems really similar to the story but I"m sort of using the frame from Frostbite but it will change more when it starts to go to the Shadow Kissed bits. This chapter is more or less original than the rest except the very last bit. Hope you enjoy it and I added some stuff from the reviews as well ;) xxx**

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**Chapter 4**

_Rose's POV_

I was on the porch again with him, but it was summer. The air was warm and the sun was high in the sky. It surprised me that he was even out here with the sun out. I loved the sun but living with vampires meant living on a nocturnal schedule. Birds sang and there was no snow here at the lodge.

Adrian was leaning against the porch railing and glanced over at me. "Oh. Didn't expect to see you here." He smiled. "I was right. You _are _devastating when you're cleaned up."

What did he mean by that? Then I realised he was talking about my black eye. I reached up to touch it even though I couldn't even see it.

"It's gone," he said. I supposed he was right but something about him was different.

"You aren't smoking." That was a habit that I remembered very well from our first meeting.

"Bad habit," he said. He nodded towards me. "You scared? You're wearing a lot of protection."

I looked down not understanding what he meant by protection. I wasn't in body armour or anything; instead I was wearing a cropped top with embroidered jeans that I was able to afford. My top was cropped so it showed off my belly button, which had the pendant, my mother had given to me, attached to it. Lissa's chotki was wound around my wrist.

I looked at Adrian again still wondering how he was out here in the sun. It shone off his brown hair and it showed me that his eyes were a beautiful emerald green, not jade like Lissa's.

"Doesn't all this sun bother you?"

He gave a lazy shrug. "Nah. It's my dream."

"No, it's _my _dream."

"Are you sure?" His smile had returned.

I felt confused. "I…don't know."

He chuckled, "Well since we have no idea whose dream this is can't we just enjoy it. It's a beautiful day isn't it?" He smiled and swept his hand over the magnificent view.

I suppose it was, "Did you decide to make your dream like this?" I asked as I walked to the porch.

"I made _our _dream like this."

"People can't share dreams, Adrian."

"Yes they can. They do it all the time, I mean we are sharing this dream now aren't we Rose?" he took a step closer to me.

"Fine then they can share dreams." I wasn't in the mood for arguing today after my wonderful day with Mason.

"You can do anything you want in a dream, Rose. Absolutely _anything._" he was suggesting something, I could tell. No way was I giving into him again, after what happened the previous night.

Before I could stop him, he pulled on my arm to bring me closer to him and kissed me softly on the lips. He was a good kisser, and by good I meant _really _good. I was sober now to actually tell. Our lips moved in sync but I was starting to have a mental battle with myself.

_Rose what are you doing kissing Adrian? _

_- What it's only a dream and he's good at kissing._

_Hello! Remember you're dating Mason now._

_- Mason…who?_

_That dhampir you've known for ages who has a crush on you and you kissed him today. Would you really break his heart like this after all the time he's known you?_

With that thought I pushed Adrian away from me. "Don't do that again," I growled through gritted teeth.

"I'm surprised you're saying that little dhampir, especially when you were kissing me back," he said with a smirk.

"If you remember I told you _I have a boyfriend._"

"Oh, he's _real _now is he? Well, does he know about our late night encounter yesterday then?" his sly smile still there.

I blushed just remembering it, but I willed it away. "No, yes, well….sort of," I wasn't even sure why I was telling him this. "Mia told him that I got drunk with you, which was true but I told him it wasn't and he believes me," I felt sort of guilty that I didn't tell Mason the truth, but no way was I going to tell him what really happened. I was probably going to get killed as well as Adrian, and in the end Mason's heart would be broken.

"Is he the same age as you?"

"Err, yeah. Why?" Weird question to ask.

"Remember you said you didn't like older guys, I was wondering if you were dating an older guy because that would've been funny to see since you told me you didn't like older guys." He chuckled.

"And I'm sure you like girls who are any age, considering your reputation," I glared at him.

He laughed out loud this time, "I see you've heard of my scandalous reputation. Well, age doesn't matter when what you get out of it is good." He said with a wink. This guy so wanted to get into my pants.

"Well I doubt you will ever find out how much _goodness _you will be able to get out of me."

"You sure?" He was smirking again and his tone as suggestive.

He is _so _annoying, "Of course I'm sure! If you try anything I _and _my boyfriend will beat the crap out of you since we are both dhampirs training to be guardians."

"Ooo feisty, I like that," he grinned at me looking over my body.

"I mean it Adrian don't try it."

"Don't worry I'm not _that _bad, _especially _in bed. But if I was then I would have slept with you last night and not just lying next to each other. When you finally come to your senses and see how _amazing _I am, I'll make you the happiest woman alive. In the time being, lets just get to know each other." He walked down from the porch onto the grass near it and patched the spot next to him.

I stood still on the porch still with my arms crossed looking at him. "I don't want to get to know you. I want to get back to sleep."

"You _are _asleep little dhampir. You're dreaming remember. I'm not even smoking this time so you won't have a terrible headache from them."

That was a plus. "Why can't I just have the dream to myself then?"

"Because that would be no fun, would it? It's fun to share a dream with someone, and I would love to get to know you better and not just in the physical way."

I wasn't sure if he was lying or not about that last little bit but I realised I wasn't going to get out of this dream with him anytime soon so why not do something. I went over to him and sat down on the luscious grass.

"So what do you want to talk about first then?" I asked.

"Hmm, what about family? You look exotic, wonder where you got that sexy looks from."

"As far as I know, my mother is Janine Hathaway but you knew that already. My dad is apparently Turkish but I have no idea who he even is."

He leaned back on his elbows and looked at me with a glint in his eyes, "Turkish, not very common no wonder you stand out from the crowd in terms of looks."

"Yeah, I suppose," It was true most Moroi parents were mostly Eastern European, like Russian or Romanian, Turkish was not so common. "Your turn, what about you?"

"Well my parents are Daniella and Nathan Ivashkov, I am an only child. My mom doesn't know if it's a bad or a good thing"

"We actually have something in common, I'm just an only child too." I definitely did not want to have a lot kids when I grow up and even decide to have kids.

"Don't worry, little dhampir, when we get married and have kids you can decide how many we have."

"When did I say we were every going to get married and have kids? We aren't even going out yet!"

"Is that a signal that you want to go out with me, little dhampir? I wouldn't mind, you know? But I'm not telling your boyfriend that you're dumping him to go out with me."

"I am _not _signalling for you to go out with me. And I am not dumping him for you." Adrian wanted to get into my pants so badly, I could tell. I would never dump Mason for him anyways and definitely not Dimitri even though we weren't a couple really but we kissed and stuff and acted like it so I think that we're a couple.

"I don't know why you're denying it, little dhampir. I'm sure you had more fun with me the other night than you did with your boyfriend because it would shown all over your face if you did. You should totally dump him and date me!" He was sitting up now and looking at me with a massive grin on his face. At least it wasn't his stupid smirk again.

"For the _last _time Adrian, I will not dump my boyfriend for you, _ever._" I was getting bored with repeating it so much now.

He rolled over on top of me and held me down with his hands. I struggled to get him off me but he was pretty tough for a Moroi. He lent down and whispered in my ear, "You know you want to Rose."

I was finally able to push him off me and gave him my death glare, "No, I don't."

He chuckled, but a moment later, the laughter faded. He actually looked serious this time, "Why do you have so much darkness around you?"

I frowned. What did he mean by that. "What?"

"You're surrounded in blackness." His eyes studied me shrewdly, but not in a checking-me-out sort of way. "I've never seen anyone like you. Shadows everywhere. I never would have guessed it. Even while you're standing here, the shadows keep growing."

I looked down at my hands but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I glanced back up. "I'm shadow-kissed…."

"What's that mean?"

"I died once." I'd never talked to anyone other than Lissa and Victor Dashkov about that, but this was a dream. I'd doubt he would remember it so it didn't matter. "And came back."

Wonder lit his face. "Ah, interesting…"

I woke up abruptly.

Someone was shaking me. It was Lissa. Her feelings hit me so hard through the bond that I briefly snapped into her mind and found myself looking at me. "Weird" didn't begin to cover it. I pulled back into my head, trying to sift through the terror and alarm coming from her.

"What's wrong?"

"There's been another Strigoi attack."

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**Sorry guys but this will probably be my last chapter for a while because back here in the good old UK the half term has sadly come to a close and my exams are coming up. So it will be some time before I update again sorry =( I will probably continue after my exams are over which will in late June but I will try doing a bit of Chapter 5 so you'll have something to read from this story.**

**Also I have just thought of an amazing story line and I'm going to call it "Emerald Green eyes" you can probably guess whose (wink wink*) This will probably start going in summer because I have a 7 week holiday yay! =D**

**Until then Au revoir xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_Rose's POV_

What the hell? Lissa had filled me on the way to the main room about what had happened with the Strigoi attack. Now there was a meeting about to commence about what the Moroi and Dhampirs should do to protect themselves, well the Moroi.

We had walked in just in time, as the conference was about to begin. Mia was on the other side of where we were sitting and was looking down at her hands. I noted that he was paler than usual and had her eyes were very red. "What happened to Mia?" I asked Lissa quietly as everybody was starting to settle down.

"Mia? Her mum was one of the helpers for the Drozdovs. They were the ones who were attacked and her mum was killed in the attack." Lissa explained just as quietly.

"Oh…" was all I could say. Purely because I didn't have anything else to say and the meeting was starting. What was it like to lose your mother? Mine had barely been around but I had her whereas Mia now didn't. I felt sorry for Mia even though I didn't really like her but I did have feelings well.

Christian and Mason had decided to join us as well as Dimitri. I spotted Tasha near the front and the rest of the Royal Moroi. "Liss, you and Christian should be up there," I whispered quickly and quietly.

She looked as well then tugged Christian lightly on the arm. They went off with Lissa giving me one last look before departing. Me, Mason and Dimitri were left with the other guardians and novices near the back of the hall.

Most of the ideas had been ridiculous and had been shot down. Two in particular had caught my interest but one had shot the other down and the one remaining was not exactly to my liking. It involved us, the novices, to be sent out at age 16 instead of the normal 18. Also this Moroi woman seemed to want dhampir women to be fighting as well.

I did not agree that us novices should be sent out at 16, we would die. I'd only just learned how to stake a Strigoi and I was 17. I'd missed out on a few years, I know, but it isn't something to be taken likely. Lucky for her, Tasha got in before I did and debated the faults to her solution. That was the only time that I felt grateful for Tasha being there but it faded just as fast when Dimitri sat up at the mention of sex coming from Tasha's lips. Well good for him.

But that wasn't the biggest part of it. It was when Tasha voiced her own opinion. Moroi using offensive magic and _hunting _Strigoi. That was when chaos broke out. People shouted and screamed and that guy, whose jacket had been set on fire as a demonstration, was furious. I'd seen what Christian and Tasha had been doing in that room but offensive magic was a good opportunity. They had it, we didn't and neither did the Strigoi. Seeing Christian practice magic though had been a little cause for concern. Magic needed to be controlled and that would take some time for younger people whereas the older ones would be more skilled but had less numbers.

Dimitri had told me and Mason that we might as well go since nothing productive was going to be happening here, but I needed a little word with my mentor. I told Mason that I'd meet him outside with the others and found Dimitri in the hallway.

"Aren't you going to go in and help Tasha?" I wondered and said aloud to Dimitri.

"She can take care of herself," He replied coolly and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, because she's a badass karate magic user. I get all that. I figured since you're going to be her guardian and all…"

"Where did you hear that?"

"I have my sources." Somehow, saying I'd heard it from my mom sounded less cool. "You've decided to, right? I mean it sounds like a good deal, seeing as she's going to give you fringe benefits…"

He gave me a level look. "What happens between her and me is none of your business," he replied crisply.

The words _between her and me _stung. It sounded like he and Tasha were a done deal. And, as often happened when I as hurt, my temper and attitude took over.

""Well, I'm sure you guys'll be happy together. She's just your type too-I know how much you like women who aren't your own age. I mean, she's what, six years older than you? Seven? And I'm seven years younger than you."

"Yes," he said after several moments of silence. "You are. And every second this conversation goes on, you only prove how young you really are."

Whoa. My jaw almost hit the floor and it felt like he had slapped me. Not even my mother punching me had hurt as badly as that. For a heartbeat, I thought I saw regret in his eyes, like he too realised just how harsh his words had been. But the moment passed, and his expression was hard once more.

"Little dhampir," a voice suddenly said nearby.

Slowly, still stunned, I turned toward Adrian Ivashkov, my dream-sharing buddy. He grinned at me and gave a brief nod of acknowledgement to Dimitri. I suspected my face was bright red. How much had Adrian heard?

He held up his hands in a casual gesture. " I don't want to interrupt or anything. Just wanted to talk to you when you have time."

I wanted to tell Adrian I didn't have time to play whatever game he was into now, but Dimitri's words still smarted. He was looking at Adrian now in a very disapproving way. I suspected he, like everyone else, had heard about Adrian's bad reputation. _Good, _I thought. I suddenly wanted him to be jealous. I wanted to hurt him as much as he'd hurt me lately.

Swallowing my pain. I unearthed my man-eating smile, one I hadn't used to full effect in some time. I walked over to Adrian and put a hand on his arm.

"I've got time now." I gave a nod of my own to Dimitri and steered Adrian away, walking close to him. "See you later, Guardian Belikov."

Dimitri's dark eyes followed us stonily. Then I turned away and didn't look back.

"By the way Rose, I will be taking Tasha's offer."

That did it. We turned the corner and went outside and in just in the nick of time. I was burning with rage but I as also upset. How could he do this to me? I thought we were in love but it turns out it was just a fling between us two. I wanted to scream but Adrian beat me to it.

"Not into older guys, huh? You are such are liar! That guy was definitely older than you but you said he was in training like you were but he's already a fully-trained guardian." Adrian said with his trademark smirk.

I took a deep breath and laughed, it was better than losing my temper and beating him to a pulp. "He's not my boyfriend he's my _mentor."_

"Oh, so you're two timing because you're with your mentor and your boyfriend who I am still dying to meet by the way."

I shook my head lightly, "You're imagining things," I said. "Clearly, my stunning beauty has clouded your mind."

He laughed that nice laugh of his. "That's entirely possible."

I started to step back, but he tossed an arm around me. "No, no, you wanted to play chummy with me - now you've got to see it through."

I rolled my eyes and let the arm stay. I could already smell the alcohol and the perpetual smell of cloves. I wondered if he was drunk now as well. I had a feeling that there was probably little difference between his attitudes drunk or sober.

"What do you want?" I asked.

He studied me for a moment. "You know what I want, little dhampir, but not right now. I want you to grab Vasilisa and come with me. We're going to have some fun. Not _that _kind. You'll probably need a swimsuit for what I have in mind." He seemed disappointed by the admission of this. "Unless you want to go naked."

"A bunch of Moroi and dhampirs just got slaughtered and you want to swimming and 'have fun'?"

"It's not just swimming," he said patiently. You'll see when we get there."

Before I could say anything else I spotted my friends there along with Mia. "There you are," said Lissa, a puzzled look on her face as she walked over to us.

I then remembered Adrian's arm still around me. I stepped out of it. "Hey, guys," I said as I heard a low chuckle from Adrian. "Adrian invited us to go swimming.

They stared at me in surprise, and I could almost see the wheels of speculation turning in their heads. Mason's face darkened a little, but like the others, he said nothing. I stifled a groan.

Adrian took me inviting my others friends pretty well and we all went to go get our swimsuits. The Ivashkovs practically had their own wing and the place we were looking for was underneath it. Adrian had given us the directions and wow was it a place.

It was some sort of mystical looking spa. It consisted of a series of hot mineral pools. Maybe once they'd been in a cave or something, but the lodge builders had long since gotten rid of any sort of rustic surroundings. The black stonewalls and ceiling were as polished and beautiful as anything else in the resort. It was like being in a cave – a really nice, designer cave. Racks of towels lined the walls, as did tables full of exotic food. The baths matched the rest of the room's hewn-out décor: stone-lined pools containing hot water that was heated from some underground source. Steam filled the room, and a faint, metallic smell hung in the air. Sounds of partygoers laughing and splashing echoed around us.

"Why is Mia with you?" I asked Lissa as we were trying to find a free pool.

"It seemed wrong to just leave her, you know? So I invited her to join us." We finally found a free pool and all of us hopped in. "I thought _you _didn't know Adrian," she said suspiciously.

"I don't him that well," I said as I took a drink from a passing waitress. This pool was like bliss, it was hot and relaxing; I felt like I could melt into it.

"You must know him sort of well, he invited us to a party." Lissa retorted taking a sip of a drink of her own.

"Yeah, but do you see him with us now?"

She followed my graze. Adrian stood on the far side of the room with a group of girls in bikinis much smaller than mine. One as a Betsey Johnson suit I'd seen in a magazine and coveted. I sighed and looked away.

Lissa had believed my innocence with Adrian and it appeared that Mason had too. They were all having another conversation about what had happened in the meeting. Mason wanted to lead a group to get the Strigoi that had gotten the Drozdovs. Unsurprisingly Mia was paying quite a lot of attention to his plan, surprisingly though Christian was countering his arguments.

I had enough and was onto my third drink. I wanted another and the waitress was nowhere to be found, looks like I'll have to get my own drink.

"Whoa," I said as I stood up. I was feeling slightly dizzy but I steadied myself quickly. I didn't find the waitress holding the drinks but I did find some with some food.

There was something that looked vaguely like mushrooms stuffed with cheese, as well as something else that looked little round of meat or sausage. As a good carnivore, I reached for one, thinking it couldn't be that bad.

"What's that?" I" I asked the waitress.

"Foie gras."

"What's that?" I had no idea what it was already no need to say it in some fancy language.

"Goose liver."

I jerked my hand back as I was about to take it. She took it as a sign of rejection and moved away to serve other people.

I decided to go look for the drink myself and wondered into some strange erotic room. Then I realised it was a feeder room and had some very attractive people in there. There were chaise lounges and the people were laying down on them. I watched as several girls had faces of pure bliss as the Moroi guys bit into them and drank their blood.

"Want to volunteer?" Light fingertips brushed my neck. I jumped and turned round to meet Adrian's green eyes and knowing smirk.

"Don't do that!" I told him, slapping his hand away.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm lost," I said sheepishly.

He peered at me closely, "Are you drunk?"

"_No. _Of course not…but…I think I should sit down."

He took my arm. "Well don't do it here. Someone might get the wrong impression. Let's go somewhere quiet."

He steered me off into a different room, sat me down near the wall and went to get something. I brought by knees up to my chest and rested my head on them. Adrian came back with a glass of water in his hand, "Here drink this," he suggested.

I drank it in small sips and realised a very major point. "You haven't had a cigarette in, like, 10 minutes." I pointed out to him.

He made a face. "No smoking in here."

"I'm sure you've made up for it in punch."

His smile returned. "Well, _some _of us can hold our liquor. You aren't going to be sick, are you?"

I still felt tipsy but no longer nauseous. "No."

"Good." He decided to change the subject now. "So I finally have met your boyfriend, well not exactly met but I've seen him. He's the red-headed dhampir right?"

"Uh, yeah."

He leaned his head against the wall and looked up, "Damn he is one lucky guy…that's a great colour on you by the way." He commented as he looked back at me. I had on a maroon bikini and I wasn't showing as much as those other girls Adrian had been hanging out with. His arrogant manner annoyed me…but I still liked being around him. I knew there was something there that I should've gotten but I was too drunk to think of anything proper right now.

"So that other guy, with Vasilisa, that was Christian Ozera?"

I might not have liked Christian but I knew about all the shit he got from his parents willingly turning Strigoi so it bugged me when people asked about him. "Yeah, why?"

"No reason, it's just that I heard that him and Vasilisa were going out and wondered if it was true." He said with a shrug.

"You better not be moving in on her Adrian or I will seriously kick your ass." I warned him.

He laughed. "Rest easy, I'm not interested in her the same way I am in you."

"But you are interested."

"I just want to talk."

I didn't want to talk about Lissa's relationships anymore but I was thinking about something. "Adrian…"

He turned his emerald eyes on me, "Yes, darling?"

His attention was diverted at me but then he turned to the door. "Ah, here she comes now."

"There you are Rose, we were looking everywhere for you." Lissa exclaimed as she walked over to us. Glancing at Adrian, she gave him a nod, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself cousin." He used the family terms that royals usually used when addressing each other. "How'd you find Rose?"

"I, um, checked all the rooms."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed, "I thought you would have used your bond."

That shocked us. Not many people knew about spirit let alone mine and Lissa's condition. The Victor Dashkov thing, I thought, was a fluke that he knew but this was pushing it.

"How do you know about that?" I demanded.

"I can't reveal all my secrets can I now, little dhampir," he said mysteriously, "anyways you guys act sort of weird round each other, it's pretty of cool though."

"The bond only works one way, Rose can sense what I'm feeling, not the other way round." Lissa explained.

"Ah, so what did you specialise in cousin?"

She looked embarrassed since we weren't really meant to tell anyone about spirit yet because of what had happened with Victor. "I haven't specialised yet." That was the cover up story to make sure no one knew about it.

"Do they think you're going to? Late bloomer?"

"No."

"You're probably higher in the other elements, though, right? Just not strong enough to really master any?" He reached out to pat her shoulder in an exaggerated show of comfort.

"Yeah, how'd you-?"

The instant his fingers touched her, she gasped. It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck her. The strangest look passed between them two and it was freaking me out.

"Hey," I said. "Stop that. I told you, she has a boyfriend."

"I know," he said, still watching her. A small smile turned his lips. "We need to have a chat someday, cousin."

"Yes," she agreed.

"Hey." I was more confused than ever. "_You _have a boyfriend. And there he is."

Indeed Christian and the rest of the gang, including Mason, were now at the door of the room watching us three. Lissa and me sitting on either side of Adrian was not good.

"We're getting ready to leave," he said.

"Okay," she told him. She looked down at me. "Ready?"

"Yeah." I nodded and Adrian helped me stand up. "Nice talking to you. Don't worry. I told you I'm not interested in her like that. She doesn't look as good as you in a bathing suit. Probably not good out of one either." He murmured quietly in my ear.

I pulled my arm away. "Well, you'll never find out."

"It's okay," he said. "I have a good imagination."

With that we headed back to the main lodge to where our rooms were. The rest of them had gone to their rooms and just as Mason was about to head to the boys rooms I stopped him.

"Mase, what's up? You haven't talked to me since we left the spa."

"Hmm, well, I just found my girlfriend with the most known womaniser in the freaking world when she told me she barely even knew him."

"Look, its not like I'm going out with him, I'm going out with you. And he was only with me because I accidently walked into a feeder room and he dragged me out."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you're even my girlfriend it seems the same as before when we were just friends." He retorted.

"Would just friends do this?" I leaned towards him and pressed my lips to his.

"Uh-uh…" he stammered.

I sighed and kissed him again but this time it lasted longer. It was getting hot before he pulled back. Luckily he had a smile on his face now. "Down girl, don't want it to get too steamy when you're drunk."

"I'm not that drunk…anymore."

"Drunk enough. We'll talk tomorrow when you're _sober_, okay?"

I just glared at him and he laughed whilst walking back in the direction of the boy's rooms. I turned myself to go back to my room with a smile on my face.

Then in the morning I woke up, yet again, with a hangover.

* * *

**Lol another hangover. **

**So since I haven't been updating in ages here is a little sneak of what is to happen. There is going to be a big showdown between Avery and Rose (they actually meet in real life instead of mentally) and Dimitri will come back to St. Vlads. **

**I've written some of the Avery vs. Rose showdown chapters, but I need more chapters to build it up. I'm having a writer's block so any ideas you have are welcome =)**

**And my other story I'm working on "Emerald Green Eyes" is on the way and I've written one of the most dramatic scenes. Can't wait to put it up**

**Love you guys xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so so so sorry for taking so long to update it's just that I didn't expect to get so much work in the holidays... So here's the next chapter and the next will be up soon ;) **

**

* * *

Chapter 6**

_Rose's POV_

The next morning I was searching the room to see if they any painkillers. I've really got to stop drinking whilst I'm still here; the hangovers are getting annoying.

I was interrupted by a knock on the door. I walked over and threw it open. Mornings were bad enough but mornings with hangovers were even worse, and you really didn't want to catch me if I was in the latter state.

"What?" I asked rudely to the person at the door though I couldn't actually see them because there was a huge box covering them.

They moved the box to the side slightly so they could see who it was. "Are you Rose Hathaway?" He asked.

"That's me."

"This is for you," he handed me the box and I closed the door behind me and wondered if I should have given him a tip for carrying that massive box over. Oh well, I wasn't going to run after him just to give a tip.

I gave up looking for the painkillers and was curious to what was in the box. I took the tape off and ripped open. It was filled with perfume. Why would I get a huge box of perfume? There had to be at least thirty bottles in here. Who would buy so much perfume for one person? No harm in trying them though. Bottle after bottle I opened and sniffed and by the end I don't think my sense of smell was working properly.

Lucky Lissa wasn't here otherwise she probably would've collapsed from all the smells in the room. I was half-vampire and I was suffering, imagine what a full-vampire would be smelling. Speaking of Lissa, I wondered where she was. She wasn't here in our room this morning, so where was she? I decided to look for her later; I only had a few bottles left to smell. I rummaged through the box to see if there were any left in the box and I found another box but it wasn't perfume. It was condoms and I only knew one person who would send me those. Adrian. Now I got why I had gotten all the perfume, after our little chat on the porch but why the hell would he send me condoms, it wasn't like we had anything going on.

I was going to pack them all back into the box but I thought I might as well smell the rest of them. I picked up one called _Amor Amor_. I sniffed it; it had a crisp sweet fragrance. There was a fruit, currant I think, and there were also some florals like Lily of the Valley and others that I didn't know. It was sweet and appealed to me. I put the little box aside since I was going to keep it even though Adrian had gotten it for me. I smelled the last five fragrances but none of them had appealed to me.

I packed up the box getting ready to take it back to Adrian's room since I didn't want the rest. I found out his room number and went over. I knocked on the door quickly, so the box wouldn't fall down, and waited. The door opened and Adrian greeted me with a shocked face, which turned into a smile when he noticed it was me.

"Little dhampir," he said cordially. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"I'm returning these." I hoisted the box toward him before he could protest. Clumsily, he caught it, staggering a bit in surprise. Once he had a good grip, he took a few steps back and set it on the floor.

"Didn't you like any of them?" he asked. "You want me to get you some more?"

"Don't send me anymore gifts."

"It isn't a gift. It's a public service. What woman doesn't own perfume? Plus the other present was just a precaution, you can never be too safe these days."

"Don't do it again," I said firmly.

Suddenly, a voice behind him asked, "Rose? Is that you?" I peered beyond him. Lissa.

"What are you doing here?"

Between my headache and what I had assumed was some interlude with Christian, I'd blocked her out as best I could this morning. Normally I would have known the instant I approached that she was inside the room. I opened myself up again, letting her shock run into me. She hadn't expected me to show up here.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Ladies, ladies," Adrian said teasingly. "No need to fight over me."

A breath of aftershave hit me, and I heard a voice: "Me too." I jumped. Spinning around, I saw Dimitri standing in the hallway. I had no idea what he was doing in the Ivashkov wing. _On his way to his girlfriend's room, _a voice in my head suggested.

Dimitri no doubt expected me to get into all sorts of trouble, but I think seeing Lissa there caught him off guard. He stepped past me and came into the room, looking between all three of us.

"Male and female students aren't supposed to be in each other's rooms."

I knew pointing out that Adrian wasn't technically a student wasn't going to get us out of trouble here. We weren't supposed to be in any guy's room.

"How do you keep doing this?" I asked Adrian, frustrated.

"Do what?"

"Keep making us look bad!"

He chuckled. "You guys are the ones who came here."

"You shouldn't have let them in," scolded Dimitri. "I'm sure you know the rules at St. Vladimir's."

Adrian shrugged. "Yeah, but I don't have to follow any school's stupid rules."

"Perhaps not," said Dimitri coldly. "But I have thought you'd still respect those rules."

Adrian rolled his eyes. "I'm kind of surprised to find you lecturing about underage girls."

I saw the anger kindle in Dimitri's eyes, and for a moment, I thought I might have seen the loss of control I'd teased him about. But he stayed composed, and only his clenched fists showed how angry he was.

"Besides," continued Adrian, "nothing sordid was going on. We were just hanging out."

"If you want 'hang out' with young girls, do it at one of the public areas."

I didn't really like Dimitri calling us 'young girls', and I kind of felt like he was overreacting here. I also suspected part of his reaction had to do with the fact that _I _was here.

Adrian laughed just then, a weird kind of laugh that made my skin crawl. "Young girls? _Young _girls? Sure. Young and old at the same time. They've barely seen anything in life, yet they've already seen too much. One's marked with life, and one's marked with death… but _they're _the ones you're worried about? Worry about yourself, dhampir. Worry about you, and worry about me. We're the ones who are young."

The rest of us just sort of stared. I don't think anyone had expected Adrian to suddenly take an abrupt trip to Crazyville.

Adrian was calm and looked perfectly normal again. He turned away and strolled towards the window, glancing casually back at the rest of us as he pulled out his cigarettes.

"You ladies should probably go. He's right. I am a bad influence."

I exchanged looks with Lissa. Hurriedly, we both left and followed Dimitri down the hall toward the lobby.

"That was…strange," I said a couple minutes later. It was stating the obvious, but, well, someone had to.

"Very," said Dimitri. He didn't sound angry so much as puzzled.

When we reached the lobby, I started to follow Lissa back toward our room, but Dimitri called to me.

"Rose," he said. "Can I talk to you?"

I felt a sympathetic rush of feeling from Lissa. I turned toward Dimitri and stepped off to the side of the room, out of the way of those passing through. A party of Moroi in diamonds and fur swept past us, anxious looks on their faces. Bellhops followed with luggage. People were still leaving in search of safer places. The Strigoi paranoia was far from over.

Dimitri's voice snapped my attention back to him. "That's Adrian Ivashkov." He said the name the same way everyone else did.

"Yeah, I know."

"This is the second time I've seen you with him."

"Yeah," I replied glibly. "We hang out sometimes." I don't know why he should care though it sort of made me happy that he did. Not just because he cared about me but in the way that he was caring because I had been hanging out with Adrian.

Dimitri arched an eyebrow, then jerked his head back toward where we'd come from. "You hang out in him room a lot?"

Several retorts popped into my head and then a golden one took precedence. "What happens between him and me is none of your business." I manage a tone very similar to the one he'd used on me when making a similar comment about him and Tasha.

"Actually, as along as you're at the Academy, what you do _is _my business."

"Not my personal life. You don't have a say in that."

"You're not an adult yet."

The way he said that reminded me of the conversation after the attack had happened and the Moroi were discussing what they should do. The way he said I was a child was just insulting and he was implying it again. "I'm close enough. Besides, it's not like I'll magically become an adult on my eighteenth birthday."

"Clearly," he said.

I blushed. "That's not what I meant. I meant –"

"I know what you meant. And the technicalities don't matter right now. You're an Academy student. I'm your instructor. It's my job to help you and to keep you safe. Being in the bedroom of someone like _him_…well, that's not safe."

I felt sort of bad for Adrian that everyone talked about him in the same way but if that's his reputation then I'm not surprised. "I can handle Adrian Ivashkov," I muttered. "He's weird – really weird, apparently – but harmless."

I secretly wonder if Dimitri's problem might be that he was jealous. He hadn't pulled Lissa aside to yell at her. The thought made me slightly happy, but then I remembered my earlier curiosity about why Dimitri had even wondered by.

"Speaking of personal lives…I supposed you were off visiting Tasha, huh?"

I knew it was petty, but hey, last time we saw each other he was telling me that he was going to take her offer. I didn't want to bring it up just in case he was just playing with me. I really hoped he was joking so I kept my mouth shut…well for the time being at least. I expected a 'none of your business' response, instead he replied, "Actually, I was visiting you mother."

"You going to hook up with her too?" I knew of course that he wasn't, but the _quip _seemed too good to pass up.

He seemed to know that too and merely gave a weary glance. "No, we were looking over some new data about the Strigoi in the Drozdov attack."

My anger and snarkiness dried up. The Drozdovs. The Badicas. Suddenly, everything that had happened this morning seemed incredibly trivial. How could I have stood there arguing with Dimitri about romances that might or might not be happening when he and the other guardian were trying to protect us?

"What'd you find out?" I asked quietly so nobody else would hear our conversation, I guessed it would be confidential information.

He told me what had happened when he met with my mother and I was actually genuinely surprised that he told me any of this since I was a novice and all. "Why'd you tell me this anyway? This is guardian stuff. Not the kind of thing you let novices in on."

He considered his words, and his expression softened. He always looked amazing, but I liked him best like this. "I've said a few things…the other day and today…that I shouldn't have. Things that insulted your age. You're seventeen…but you're capable of handling and processing the same things those much older than you do."

My chest grew light and fluttery. "Really?"

He nodded. You're still really young in a lot of ways – and act young – but the only way to really change that is to treat you like an adult. I need to do that more. I know you'll take this information and understand how important it is and keep it to yourself."

I didn't love being told I acted young, but I liked the idea that he would talk to me like an equal.

"Dimka," came a voice. Tasha Ozera walked up to us. She smiled when she saw me. "Hello, Rose."

There went my mood. "Hey," I said flatly.

She placed a hand on Dimitri's forearm, sliding her fingers over the leather of his coat. I eyed those fingers angrily. How dare they touch him?

"You've got that look," she told him.

"What look?" he asked. The stern look he'd worn with me vanished. There was a small, knowing smile on his lips. Almost a playful one.

"That look that says you're going to be on duty all day."

"Really? I have a look like that?" There was a teasing mocking tone to his voice.

She nodded. "When does your shift technically end?"

Dimitri actually looked – I swear – sheepish. "An hour ago."

"You can't keep doing this," she groaned. "You need a break."

"Well…if you consider that I'm always Lissa's guardian…"

"For now," she said knowingly. I felt sicker than I had last night. "There's a big pool tournament going on upstairs."

"I can't," he said, but the smile was still on his face. "Even though I haven't played in a long time…"

What the–? Dimitri played _pool_?

Suddenly, it didn't matter that we'd just had a discussion about him treating me like an adult. Some small part of me did know what a compliment that was – but the rest of me wanted him to treat me like he did Tasha. Playful. Teasing. Casual. They were so familiar with each other, so completely at ease.

"Come on, then," she begged. "Just one round! We could take them all."

"I can't," he repeated. He sounded regretful. "Not with everything going on."

She sobered a little. "No. I suppose not." Glancing at me she said teasingly, "I hope you realise what a hard-core role model you have here. He's never off duty."

I know that, _Tasha_, I don't need you to tell me that. Role model, though? Not the words I would use exactly…but close enough. "Well," I said, copying her lifting tone from earlier, "_for now, _at least."

Tasha looked puzzled. I don't think it occurred to her I'd be making fun of her. Dimitri's dark look told me he knew exactly what I was doing. I immediately realised I'd just killed whatever progress I'd made as an adult.

"We're finished here, Rose. Remember what I said."

"Yeah," I said, turning away. I suddenly wanted to go to my room and veg for a while. This day was making me tired already. "Definitely."

As I made my way back to my room, I couldn't help think about the future for Dimitri and me. He told me that he had taken Tasha's offer but he didn't mention it once in our conversation just now, but Tasha was implied that he was going to. I didn't really believe Tasha but after what Dimitri had said I was beginning to have my doubts. On the other hand, Dimitri could have just said that he was because I was with Adrian at the time and it came out without him thinking about it.

If Dimitri left it meant he wouldn't be Lissa's guardian anymore and she would be assigned someone else along with me. It also meant Dimitri was leaving _me_. Did he really not care for me that much that would just leave? At least he would have the guts to tell me he was leaving to my face instead of leaving with a goodbye.

Maybe it was because Tasha could give him children and I couldn't. I mean if I could and he wanted them I might have considered it, not that I'm the biggest fan of them, but dhampirs couldn't create children together but Moroi and dhampirs could. I wonder how the Moroi society would take it though. It was normal for a dhampir woman/girl to be impregnated by a Moroi man and they were highly looked down upon for it. But what about a Moroi woman getting pregnant from a dhampir man? A guardian as well. I didn't really know but I hoped I would never find out because I did not want Dimitri to be Tasha's guardian.

Even if he didn't want me I would still want him to stay for the sake of Lissa's safety. Sure I would want something different and that he would want me, but Lissa's safety was always my priority.

Luckily I ran into Mason to stop the babbling in my head. Unluckily it meant another man I had to deal with.

"You're mad," he said as soon as he looked at my face. He had a knack for discovering my moods. "What happened?"

_Oh yeah, Mason, well Tasha Ozera is stealing my man from me and he thinks I'm a child _would've been the truth but I wasn't going to tell him that just like I hadn't told him about what had happened between me and Adrian. "Some…authority problems," is what I said instead, "It's been a weird morning."

"Come on. Wasn't the deal to go somewhere…um, private today?"

"I figured you weren't drunk anymore," he joked. But his eyes looked very, very serious. And interested. "I assumed it was all off."

"Hey, I stand by my claims, no matter what." Opening my mind, I searched for Lissa. She was no longer in our room. She'd gone off to some other royal event, no doubts still practicing for Priscilla Voda's big dinner. "Come on," I told Mason. "We'll go to my room."

On the way, to make some conversation and to make him feel better as well as worked up, I told him some of the things that Dimitri had told me about what the guardians were doing. I knew I wasn't meant to tell anymore really but I knew Mason wouldn't mistreat the things I was telling him.

It worked and he had the same expression I did. I calmed him down but we heated up again afterwards as we started to make out. Shit. Why was I thinking about Dimitri while kissing Mason? Get out of my head Dimitri! As much as I tried it he wasn't budging and it wasn't fair to Mason either so I broke it off.

"Too much?" he asked. I nodded. "That's okay. We don't have to do that."

He reached for me again, and I moved farther away. "No. I just don't…I don't know. Let's call it quits okay?"

"I…" He was speechless for a moment. "What happened to the 'lots of things' you wanted to do?"

Yeah…it looked pretty bad, but what could I say? _I can't get physcial with you because when I do, I just think about the other guy I actually want. You're just a stand-in._

I swallowed feeling stupid. "I'm sorry, Mase. I just can't."

He sat up and ran a handover his hair. "Okay. All right."

I could hear the harness in his voice. "You're mad."

He glanced over at me, a sotrmy expression on his face. "I'm just confused. I can't read your signals. One momet you're hot, the next you're cold. You tell me you want me, you tell me you don't. If you picked one, that'd be fine, but you eep making me think one thing and then you end up going in a completely different direction. Not just now – all the time."

It was true. I had gone back and forth with him. Sometimes I was flirty, other times I completely ignored him.

"Is there something you want me to do?" he aslked when I didn't say anything. "Something that'll…I don't know. Make you feel better about me?"

"I don't know," I said weakly.

He sighed. "Then what do you want in general?"

_Dimitri, _I though. Instead, I repeated myself. "I don't know."

With a groan, he stood up and headed for the door. "Rose, for someone who claims she wants to gather as much information as possible, you really have a lot to learn about yourself."

The door slammed behind him. The noise made me flinch, and as I starred at where Mason had just stood, I realised he was right. I did have a lot to learn.

* * *

**So I know I said that I would be writing Emerald Green Eyes this Summer but as I said before I had a lot of work to do and I was abroad as well so I'll try and write it bit by bit whilst doing this one as well though it's a big year when I go back to school so don't expect too much, sorry =( xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_Rose's POV_

As much as I knew I should be thinking about Mason's words and what had happened this afternoon I just couldn't concentrate on anything. It was sort of a relief when Lissa came through the door. Well it was until she opened her mouth.

I could tell something was wrong with her from the bond and it was troubling her much more than my problems were troubling me. So, as always, I put her first.

"What happened?"

She sat on her bed, sinking into the feather duvet, her feeling both furious and sad. "Christian."

"Really?" I'd never known then to fight. They teased each other a lot, but it was hardly the kind of thing that could nearly bring her to tears.

"He found out…I was with Adrian this morning."

"Oh, wow," I said. "Yeah. That might be a problem." Standing up, I walked over to the dresser and found my brush. Wincing, I stood in front of the gilt-framed mirror and begin brushing out the snarls and acquired during my thinking whilst lying down on my bed.

She groaned. "But nothing happened! Christian's freaking out over nothing. I can't believe he doesn't trust me."

"He trusts you. The whole thing's just weird, that's all." I thought about Dimitri and Tasha. "Jealousy makes people do and say stupid things."

"But nothing happened," she repeated. "I mean, you were there and – hey, I never found out what _were _you doing there?"

"Adrian sent me a bunch of perfume."

"He – you mean that giant box you were carrying?"

I nodded.

"Whoa."

"Yeah I came to return it," I said. "The question is, what were you doing there?"

"Just talking," she said. She started to light up, on the verge of telling me something but then she paused. I felt the thought almost reach the front of her mind and then get shoved back. "I've got a lot to tell you, but first tell me what's up with you."

"Nothing's up with me."

"Whatever, Rose. I'm not psychic like you, but I know when you're off about something. You've been kind of down ever since Christmas. What's up?"

Now wasn't the time to get into what had happened on Christmas when my mom told me about Tasha and Dimitri. But I did tell Lissa the story about Mason – editing out why I had stopped – and simply driving home how I had.

"Well…" she said when I finished. "That was your right."

"I know. But I kind of led him on. I can see why he'd be upset."

"You guys can probably fix it, though. Go talk to him. He's crazy about you."

I just looked at the stars in the sky, which were starting to fade from the rising sun. I heard the door behind me open but I didn't bother to turn around.

It was more than miscommunication. Things with Mason and me couldn't be patched up so easily. "I don't know," I told her. "Not everyone's like you and Christian."

Her face darkened. "Christian. I still can't believe he's being so stupid about this."

I didn't meant to, but I laughed. "Liss, you guys'll kill and make up in like a day. More than kiss, probably."

It slipped out before I could stop it. Her eyes widened. "You know." She shook her head in exasperation. "Of course you know."

"Sorry," I said. I hadn't meant to let her know about the sex thing, not until she told me herself.

She eyed me. "How much do you know?"

"Um, not much," I lied. I'd finished brushing my hair but began playing with the brush's handle in order to avoid her eyes.

''I have got to learn to keep you out of my mind," she muttered.

"Only way I can 'talk' to you lately." Another slipup.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing…I…" She was giving me a sharp look. "I…I don't know. I just feel like we don't talk as much anymore."

"Takes two to fix that," she said, voice kind again.

"You're right," I said, not pointing out that two could fix that only if one wasn't always with her boyfriend. True, I was guilty in my own way of locking things up – but I _had_ wanted to talk to her a number of times lately. The timing just never seemed to be right – not even now. "You know, I never thought you'd be first. Or I guess I never though I'd be a senior and still be a virgin."

"Yeah," she said dryly. "Me either."

"Hey! What's _that _supposed to mean?"

She grinned, then caught sight of her watch. Her smile fell. "Ugh. I've got to go to Priscilla's banquet. Christian was supposed to go with me, but he's off being an idiot…" Her eyes focused hopefully on me.

"What? No. Please, Liss. You know how I hate those formal royal things."

"Oh, come on," she begged. "Christian flaked out. You can't throw me to the wolves. And didn't you just say we needed to talk more?" I groaned. "Besides, when you're my guardian, you'll have to do these things all the time.

"I know," I said darkly. "I thought I could maybe enjoy my last six months of freedom."

But in the end, she conned me into going with her, as we'd both known she would.

We had to rush to get ready since there wasn't much time before it began. Lissa dressed nicely as always and I wore the gown that Tasha had gotten me. I pulled on the silken material, happy to see the shade of red was just as killer on me as I'd imagined. It was a long, Asian-style dress with flowers embroidered into the silk. The high neck and long hem covered a lot of skin, but the material clung to me and looked sexy in a different kind of way than showing a lot of skin did. My black eye was practically nonexistent by now.

When we got there everybody was looking at us. Did we always really draw that much attention that they had to always look at us wherever we went? I think it was because she was the Dragomir princess and she had brought a dhampir. We decided to mingle for a bit just because we had to but Lissa got into a heated discussion with a small group of Moroi, which contained a silver haired guy with a bushy moustache.

I was getting bored so I was looking for something to eat. I passed a server with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. I eyed them suspiciously but saw nothing that looked like foie gras from the other day. I gestured to one that looked like some sort of braised, rare meat.

"Is that goose liver?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Sweetbread."

That didn't sound bad. I reached for it.

"It's pancreas," said a voice behind me. I jerked back.

"What?" I squealed. The waitress took my shock for rejection and moved on.

Adrian Ivashkov moved into my line of sight, looking immensely pleased with himself.

"Are you messing with me?" I asked. "'Sweetbread' is _pancreas_?" I didn't know why that shocked me so much. Moroi consumed blood. Why not internal organs? Still, I repressed a shudder.

Adrian shrugged. "It's really good."

I shook my head in disgust. "Oh, man. Rich people suck."

His amusement continued, "What are you doing here, little dhampir? Are you following me around?"

"Of course not," I scoffed. He was dressed to perfection, as always. "Especially not after all the trouble you've gotten us into.

He flashed one of his tantalizing smiles, and despite how much he annoyed me, I again felt that overwhelming urge to be near him. What was up with that?

"I don't know," he teased. He looked perfectly sane now, exhibiting no trace of the weird behaviour I'd witnessed in his room. And yeah, he looked _a lot _better in a tuxedo than any other guy I'd seen in there so far. "As many times as we keep seeing each other? This is, what, the fifth time? It's starting to feel suspicious. Don't worry, though, I won't tell your boyfriend. Either of them."

I opened my mouth to protest, then remembered he'd seen me with Dimitri earlier. I refused to blush. "I only have _one _boyfriend. Sort of. Maybe not anymore. And anyway, there's nothing to tell. I don't even like you.

"No?" asked Adrian, still smiling. He leaned towards me, like he had a secret to share. "Then why are you wearing my perfume?"

This time, I did blush, I took a step back. "I'm not."

He laughed. "Of course you are. I counted the boxes after you left. Besides, I can smell it on you. It's nice. Sharp…but still sweet – just like I'm sure you are deep down inside. And you got it right, you know. Just enough to add an edge…but not enough to drown out your own sent." The way he said 'scent' made it sound like a dirty word.

Royal Moroi might make me uncomfortable, but smartass guys hitting on me didn't. I dealt with them on regular basis. I shook off my shyness and remembered who I was.

"Hey," I said, tossing my hair back. "I had every right to take one. You offered them. Your mistake is in assuming me taking one means anything. It doesn't. Expect that maybe you should be more careful with here you dump all that money of yours."

"Ooh, Rose Hathaway is here to play, folks." He paused and took a glass of what looked like champagne from a passing waiter. "You want one?"

"I don't drink."

"Right." Adrian handed me a glass anyway, then shooed the waiter away and took a drink of the champagne. I had a feeling it wasn't his first of the night. "So. Sounds like our Vasilisa put my dad in his place."

"Your…" I glanced back at the group I'd just left. Silver Hair still stood there, gesticulating wildly. "That guy's your dad?"

"That's what my mom says."

"You agree with him? About how Moroi fighting would be suicide?"

Adrian shrugged and took another sip. "I don't really have an opinion on that."

"That's not possible. How can you not feel one way or another?"

"Dunno. Just not something I think about. I've got better things to do."

"Like stalk me," I suggested. "And Lissa. "I still wanted to know why she'd been in his room.

He smiled again. "I told you, you're the one following me."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Five times –" I stopped. "Five times?"

He nodded.

"No, it's only been four." With my free hand, I ticked them off. "There was that first night, the night at the spa, then when I came to your room, and now tonight."

The smile turned secretive. "If you say so."

"I _do _say so…" Again, my words trailed off. I had talked to Adrian one other time. Sort of. "You can't mean…"

"Mean what?" A curious eager expression lit his eyes. It was more hopeful than presumptuous.

I swallowed, recalling the dream. "Nothing." Without thinking about it, I took a drink of champagne. Across the room, Lissa's feelings burned back to me, calm and content. Good.

"Why are you smiling?" Adrian asked.

"Because Lissa's still over there, working that crowd."

"No surprise there. She's one of those people who can charm anyone she wants if she tries hard enough. Even people who hate her."

I gave him a wry look. "I feel that way when I talk to you."

"But you don't hate me," he said, finishing the last of the champagne. "Not really."

"I don't like you either."

"So you keep saying." He took another step toward me, not threatening, just making the space between us more intimate. "But I can live with that."

"Rose!"

The sharpness of my mother's voice cut through the air. A few people within earshot glanced over us. My mother – all five angry feet of het – stormed up to us.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. Her voice was still too loud as far as I was concerned.

"Nothing I –"

"Excuse us, Lord Ivashkov," she growled then, like I was five years old, she grabbed me by my arm and jerked me out of the room. Champagne sloshed out of my glass and splashed onto the skirt of my dress.

"What do you think _you're_ doing?" I exclaimed, once we were out in the hall. Mournfully, I looked down at my dress. "This is silk. You could have ruined it."

She grabbed the champagne flute and set it down on a nearby table. "Good. Maybe it'll stop you from dressing up like a cheap whore."

"Whoa," I said, shocked. "That's kind of harsh. And where do you get off turning motherly all of a sudden," I gestured to the dress. "This isn't exactly cheap. You thought it was nice of Tasha to give it to me.

"That's because I didn't expect you to wear it out with Moroi and make a spectacle of yourself."

"I'm not making a spectacle of myself. And anyway, it covers everything up."

"A dress that tight might as well be showing everything," she retorted. She, of course, was dressed in guardian black tailored black linen pants and matching blazer, she had a few curves of her own, but the clothing hid them.

"Especially when you're with a group like that. Your body's…conspicuous. And flirting with Moroi doesn't really help."

"I wasn't flirting with him."

The accusation made me angry because I felt I'd been on really good behaviour lately. I used to flirt all the time – and do other things – with Moroi guys, but after a few talks and one embarrassing incident with Dimitri, I'd realised how stupid that was. Dhampir girls did have to be careful with Moroi guys, and I kept that in mind all the time now.

Something petty occurred to me. "Besides," I said mockingly, "isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Hook up with a Moroi and further my race? It's what _you _did."

She glowered. "Not when I was your age."

"You were only a few years older than me."

"Don't do anything stupid. Rose," she said. "You're too young for a baby. You don't have the life experience for it – you haven't even lived your own life yet. You won't be able to do the kind of job you wish you could."

I groaned, mortified. "Are we really even discussing this? How did we go from me allegedly flirting to suddenly having a litter? I'm not having sex with him or anyone else, and even if I were, I know about birth control. Why are you talking to me like I'm a child?"

"Because you act like one." It was remarkably like what Dimitri had told me.

I glared. "So you're going to send me to my room now?"

"No, Rose." She suddenly looked tired. "You don't have to go to your room, but don't go back in there, either. Hopefully you didn't draw too much attention."

"You make it sound like I was giving a lap dance in there," I told her. "I just had dinner with Lissa."

"You'd be surprised what things can spark rumours," she warned. "Especially with Adrian Ivashkov."

With that, she turned and headed off down the hall. Watching her, I felt anger and resentment burn through me. Overreact much? I hadn't done anything wrong. I knew she had her whole blood-whore paranoia, bit this was extreme, even for her. Worst of all, she'd dragged me out of there, and several people had witnessed it. For someone who supposedly didn't want me attracting attention, she'd kind of messed that one up.

A couple of Moroi who'd been standing near Adrian and me walked out of the room. They glance in my direction and then whispered something as they passed.

"Thanks, Mom," I muttered to myself.

Humiliated, I stalked off in the opposite direction, not really sure where I was going. I headed out toward the back of the lodge, away from all the activity.

The hall eventually ended, but a door leading to some stairs sat on the left. The door was unlocked, so I followed the steps upwards to another door. To my pleasure, it opened up onto a small rooftop deck that didn't appear to see much. A blanket of snow lay over it all, but it was early morning out here, and the sun shone brightly, making everything glitter.

I brushed snow off a large, box-like object that looked to be part of the ventilation system. Heedless of my dress, I sat down on it. Wrapping my arms around myself, I stared off, taking in the view and sun that I rarely got to enjoy.

I was startled when the door opened a few minutes later. I couldn't bother to look at who was here to see me because I wasn't a really big name. If they were security or something, I wanted to enjoy the view before they told me I wasn't allowed to be out here. Surprisingly it wasn't and they didn't.

The smell of them made me immediately know who it was and they put their jacket around me.

"Aren't you cold out here?" he asked.

I just shrugged my shoulders, "The sun will be out soon. Aren't you cold you don't have a jacket now."

He waved it off, "That might be but we are still on a mountain in the middle of winter. Don't worry about me its always good to be a gentleman."

"Why don't you put your jacket back on and we can just stay close?"

"Works for me as long as you're okay."

He put his jacket on and opened it so I could fit in. It was really warm and his body heat was helping as well. We sat there in comfortable silence for a while. Occasionally, a light wind blew clouds of snow around. It was night for Moroi, and most would be going to bed soon, so the ski runs were quiet. I was sort of surprised he was still up.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be at least one of the last ones at the party," I commented.

"Normally I would be but when you're mom dragged you away I was looking out for you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I wanted to."

"Why?" I asked simply.

He shrugged. "In the amount of time I've known you, I care about you. Trust me that doesn't normally happen."

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, Adrian fucking Ivashkov the royal player."

He joined in with me, "You got that right." Then Adrian's face turned to one of concern. "Are you okay? I mean if you got a word from your mom because of me I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. Not much could have changed it. She seems to be constantly disappointed in me and thinks I'm going to become a bloodwhore any second. She already thinks that I've slept with you and I'm going to have your baby or something."

"That might have been my doing because of my reputation and all. But I don't think she's disappointed, Rose, I think that she just cares about you and that you could do so much more with your life because you're still young. The baby thing though, that can wait." He had his usual smirk back on.

_It can wait. _I knew those words shouldn't mean so much to me but they did. It made me think of my mom. She had only been twenty when I was born. Growing up, that had always seemed really old to me. But now…that was only a few years off me. Not old at all. Did she think she'd had me too soon? Had she done a shoddy job raising me simply because she didn't know any better at the time? Did she regret the way things had turned out between us? And was it…was it _maybe_ possible that she'd had some personal experience with Moroi men and people spreading rumours about her? I'd had inherited a lot of her features. I mean, I'd even noticed tonight what a nice figure she had. She had a pretty face too – for a nearly forty-year-old, I mean. She'd probably been really, really good-looking when she was younger…

I sighed. I didn't want to think about that. If I did, I might have to revaluate my relationship with her – maybe even acknowledge my mother as a real person – and I already had too many relationships stressing me. Lissa always worried me, even though she seemed to be okay for a change. My so-called romance with Mason was in shambles. There was Adrian though I didn't really think there was anything there no matter how many times he mentioned it. And then, of course, there was Dimitri.

"When did I ever say I was going to have kids with you?"

"One day you will I just know it."

"And how do you just 'know it'"

"You'll see, only time will tell."

I didn't want to elaborate on the point anymore than we already had. The sun was almost completely up now and I loved it. I noticed from the corner of my eye, though, that Adrian was flinching. I almost forgot that the sun affected Moroi.

"Come on let's go. The sun is bothering you."

"Are you sure? I mean you look like you're really enjoying it I don't mind staying."

"No it's fine. I would rather that you were okay, I can see the sun anytime I wanted if I stayed up late enough."

"Um okay then, I'll walk you back to your room."

"Thanks."

We walked to my room in silence but it didn't feel awkward. Once we got to my door he waited until I got in before he went.

"Here we are, little dhampir. So I suppose…good night."

"Er, yeah, thanks for walking me back and waiting with me on the roof."

"No problem, if you need me at any time I'll be there," he said with a smile. Then he did the unexpected. He leaned down and kissed me softly. I didn't move at all from the shock. I didn't kiss him back either but I didn't push him away. It wasn't romantic or anything but it was just…nice.

When he pulled away it was like nothing had happened. "Hope to see you soon, little dhampir." He waved to me then walked away not waiting for my response.

I didn't say anything back except I just watched his back as he walked away. As I was about to go into my room I noticed from the corner of my eye that someone was there. Great, it was probably some Moroi that just saw Adrian and me kissing and it would be all over the lodge by tomorrow morning. Maybe my mom was right.

I turned to see who it was, but it wasn't a Moroi. It was Dimitri. I had nothing to say but his expression was not happy, it was rather one of hurt. I was too tired for this right now and I just wanted to get to sleep and start fresh tomorrow. But I couldn't, I had someone's heart to break.

* * *

**Mwhahaha Adrian stole Dimitri's moment =D**

**So I know I've been taking ages to upload between chapters but I'm going to try and write loads of chapters then upload them so you won't have to keep waiting and waiting for a certain chapter which I would probably not write for like a month or something...**

**The first chapter for Emerald Green Eyes is up so please RxR... its M rated at first but the rest should be mostly T **


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